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Women's SoccerEnds Season With Victory Over DragonsRob Fannon, 11/08/96

Concordia's women's soccer team beat the MSU Dragons here on Saturday in a nonconference game to wrap up its season. They edged out the Dragons 2-1 in overtime.

Concordia scored midway through the first half to give itself a 1-0 lead. The Dragons could not answer back with a goal until the end of the second half, which put the game into overtime.

Sophomore goalie Amy Gentz was the keeper for the Cobbers during the game and managed to pull down 15 shots to keep the Cobbers right in it. The Cobbers controlled the ground game throughtout the midfield.

This, in turn, allowed junior midfielder Tina Myren to drive in the game-winning goal in the 96th minute of play.

"The girls just didn't want to quit playing. It was the last game of the season and they were determined to get the most out of it." said head coach Dean Hashbarger.

The team as a whole tied the record for wins in a season and beat the record for the most goals in a season. The team finished 11-6-1 overall and 4-5-1 in the conference.

There were many other records that were broken throughout the season, 17 to be exact. The standout record breaker for the team was senior defender Kari Eissinger. Eissinger has broke every defensive record in the Concordia books throughout her career at Concordia.

She is one of the four seniors that will be leaving the team this year. Midfielder Jessica Sauer, defender Kelly Morehead and forward Angela Tohm are the other three that gave their time and talent these past few years. Tohm broke the record for the most points scored in a career.

"It will be really hard to replace the seniors this year. They were the best group to go through this program in a very long time," said Hashbarger.

However, there are also many players that will return next year and play vital roles in the Cobber program, such as Gentz and freshman Rachel Reick.

Despite its successes, the team is still looking to improve for the future. They would like to go to the playoffs next year.

Concordia's football team defeated the Hamline Pipers by a score of 27-26 last Saturday. The win brought the Cobbers' record to 5-4 overall and 5-3 in the conference, significantly lower than last year's record. Due to the losses, the Cobbers will end their season Saturday against Carleton and will not advance to the playoffs.

Concordia took an early lead when senior fullback Mike Halvorson scored his first of two touchdowns for the day. Despite the early score, the cobbers trailed 17-14 at the half and 20-14 going into the fourth quarter. Then the Concordia offense rallied as senior tight end Nate Merseth socred to tie the game at 20. The Hamline offense fought back to take a 26-20 lead.

With just 3:42 remaining in the game, Halvorson scored on a 16-yard touchdown run to give the Cobbers the victory. Concordia's defense forced the Pipers to punt, and the Cobber offense ran the clock out to preserve the win.

Both teams seemed to have difficulty running the ball. Hamline was able to gain only 62 rushing yards on 34 attempts. However, its passing game was strong, earning 324 passing yards. The Pipers managed 17 first downs compared to 15 for Concordia.

The Cobbers did better on the ground with 147 yards on 43 attempts. Senior halfback Eli Schuff rushed the ball 19 times for just 38 yards. Sophomore quaterback Ethan Pole completed 12 of his 22 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown. Merseth had four catches for 59 yards and a touchdown catch. Senior wide receiver Tory Langemo added five catches for 72 yards.

Tomorrow, the Cobbers travel to the Metrodome in Minneapolis to take on Carleton and wrap-up their season. According to head coach Jim Christopherson, finishing the season strong and stopping Carleton's passing game is the focus of this game.

"Their [Carleton's] passing game will be helped by the fact that the game is on the carpet," said Christopherson. "If we could finish the season with a conference record of 6-3, I'd consider it a highly successful season."

Conference championship is coming down to the wire with the men's soccer team clinching a tie for the MIAC title. The Cobbers are in a position to win the title outright if they defeat St. Olaf tomorrow.

"Personally, I think this will be a huge game because we want to win the title outright," said senior defenseman Zach Brumbach. "Last year, we tied for the championship but we didn't make the playoffs, so this year we want to win it to make sure we go to the playoffs."

The Cobbers are coming off an Oct. 30 victory over the Bethel Royals, handing them a shutout victory of 8-0. The scoring began early as senior forward Brian Johnson registered his eighth goal of the year at the four minute mark.

"They [Bethel] just kind of let everything go after the 12th minute. They didn't seem like they wanted to play," said Johnson. "We really wanted to put the ball in the net. You could say we were on fire."

Junior midfielder Todd Hashbarger began his day with a goal in the 13th minute and followed with another goal in the next minute.

Freshman forward Josh Spaulding found the net in the 18th minute with his fourth goal this year. Then freshman forward Chad Fancher finished out the first-half scoring in the 40th minute with a goal, his second of the year.

In the 60th minute, senior midfielder Jamie Johnson came back after a recent injury and scored his sixth goal of the season. The goal was assisted by Hashbarger, leading the team with nine assists, and senior midfielder Pete Benson.

Then, eight minutes later, Hashbarger finished the hat trick with a goal, giving him three on the goal and six on the year. The Cobbers added a final goal in the 84th minute by freshman midfielder Josh Bergeron, his second this season.

Concordia dominated the game with 18 shots on goal to Bethel's six. Senior goalie Chad Anderson registered another shoutout, making six saves.

According to Brumbach, the game built up momentum for playoff performance.

"We have been coming together as a team slowly all year, but a lot of it came here in this last game because we really know where we stand right now," he said.

The Cobbers are quickly building a soccer tradition that would be capped off well with a win over St. Olaf tomorrow and an outright MIAC championship. That would get Concordia into the national playoffs, something which eluded the Cobbers last year.

"It's nice to come back after last year and stay on top," said Brian Johnson.

With MIAC playoffs beginning today, the Cobber women's volleyball team is looking for a repeat of last year's strong performance. The Cobbers head into the tournament at Macalaster, ranked second in the conference and ready to knock St. Olaf out of its current number one spot.

"I know we can beat them," said sophomore hitter Laura Reitmeier. "They have a really good attitude. They win because they know that nothing is going to hit the floor."

The Cobbers are coming off a recent non-conference loss to Moorhead State on Tuesday. However, prior to that game, the women won three of four matches in the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Tournament. The Cobbers beat UW-Stout and Bemidji State 3-0 and St. Mary's 3-2. The Cobbers fell to UW-River Falls 3-0.

"In River Falls, the second day we played really well. We played with a lot of confidence," said junior hitter Angie Carlin. "At MSU, we were really relaxed. Nothing went right. In a way, we were kind of glad to get a bad game out of the way."

As of Nov. 5, the Cobbers are ranked fourth in the region. In order for the Cobbers to advance to regional play, they must remain in the top four in the region and finish first or second in the MIAC. For this weekend, this means they have to beat St. Thomas and St. Benedict's.

"We should be able to pull it all together this week. If we play volleyball like we can, we will do fine," said Reitmeier.

Overall, the team is pleased with the season. Its biggest struggle was maintaining confidence and connecting as a team. According to Reitmeier, the wins in River Falls helped the team to connect, a feeling she believes is key to succeededing this weekend.

"We know we struggled with confidence, but we're all ready for the tournament," said Carlin. "We know if we're not confident we won't win."

Concordia's newest sport came alive in Minneapolis last weekend. Cobber women's swimming began their first season on Nov. 2 at St. Thomas. The relatively young team made a good showing, according to head coach Connie Kirchoffner.

"These girls have made swimming and diving a reality at Concordia." she said.

At the St. Thomas relays over the weekend, junior diver Erika Halvorsen led the team, placing second in six dives.

"It was a fun meet," said Halvorsen, relating it to a scrimmage, a chance to preview the sport.

Since the decision to add women's swimming was made last year, the pool has been under construction to give the women adequate practice facilities. The lighting has been improved, lane ropes added, and newer boards installed for competition.

The boards that were available were the original boards installed when the pool was built in 1974. The high board was removed because the pool is not deep enough for that type of diving. To account for the loss, the team practices high dives at NDSU.

The start blocks were also moved to the deep end of the pool. Currently no plans are underway to increase the pool depth.

Athletic director Armin Pipho said the decision to add women's swimming came a few years ago when a gender-equity study showed the need for another women's sport. The top two suggestions were swimming and Nordic skiing and, according to Pipho, the decision to add swimming was the logical choice.

"We had a swimming pool; there is competition in the conference-there were a variety of reasons," he said.

Funding for the new program came from the college's general fund. A portion of money is set aside as Enhancement Funds, or money to improve the college.

"The administration understands that each year there are things that the college will need. This was one of them," said Pipho.

Kirchoffer comes to Concordia from Aurora, Colo., where she was the girls swimming head coach at Smoky Hills High for two years. Prior to that she coached Mandan's high school girls' swim team since 1976. Kirchoffner, a Moorhead State graduate, is currently pursuing her master's in education at NDSU.

"It's hard to adjust to a new coach," said freshman Karyn Senst, adding that the team is working well with Kirchoffner.

The women's team has been involved in dry-land training since Oct. 1 and began practicing in the water on Oct. 15. By now, according to Kirchoffner, the women are swimming approximately 10,000 yards per day.

"We're getting a lot of quality training from them," said Kirchoffner.

The toughest challenges for the women will come from well established teams such as Gustavus, St. Benedict's and especially St. Olaf, which has 13 MIAC championship titles.

"Actually, I think we will do really well this season," said Halvorsen.

The team hopes to finish somewhere in the middle of the MIAC but feels it can be competitive this year.

"We are just going to go out, have fun and try to get people involved," said Senst.

Today, the women compete against Gustavus, followed by St. Benedict's tomorrow.

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